1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of internal combustion engines, and in particular deals with an improved engine having a separation chamber for the intake and exhaust apertures and valves.
2. Description of Related Art
The internal combustion engine (ICE) is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel, fossil fuel for example, occurs with an oxidizer, usually air, in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine high temperature and high pressure gases are produced by the combustion. The gas expansion applies force to a movable component of the engine, such as the piston, and by moving the moveable component over a distance, generate useful mechanical energy.
The term internal combustion engine usually refers to an engine in which combustion is intermittent, such as the familiar four-stroke and two-stroke piston engines. A second class of internal combustion engines use continuous combustion, gas turbines, jet engines and most rocket engines. While there are many stationary applications of ICEs, the real strength of ICEs is in mobile applications and they dominate as a power supply for cars, aircraft, and boats of all sizes.
Referring to a four-stroke ICE, the four strokes are intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust strokes that occur during two crankshaft rotations per working cycle of a gasoline engine or a diesel engine.
The cycle begins when a piston slidable inside a cylinder is farthest away from the axis of the crankshaft. On the intake stroke of the piston, the piston descends from the top of the cylinder, reducing the pressure inside the cylinder. A mixture of fuel and air is forced by atmospheric pressure into a cylinder through the intake port or aperture. An intake valve then closes, and the compression stroke compresses the fuel-air mixture.
The air-fuel mixture is then ignited near the end of the compression stroke, usually by a spark plug for a gasoline or Otto cycle engine or by the heat and pressure of compression, for a Diesel cycle engine. The resulting pressure of burning gases pushes the piston through the power stroke. In the exhaust stroke, the piston pushes the products of combustion from the cylinder through an exhaust port or aperture. The exhaust valve then closes, and the intake stroke takes place again.
Usually, the intake and exhaust valves are driven by a camshaft rotating once per four-stroke cycle, while the crankshaft rotates twice per four-stroke cycle. Recently, there are numerous designs for operating the intake valve and the exhaust valve using solenoids, which are driven by an engine controller or computer.
The intake and exhaust valves are exposed to the large pressures developed in the combustion chamber or cylinder during the compression and combustion strokes. Thus, it may be advantageous to reduce that pressure and isolate the intake and exhaust apertures from the main body of the combustion chamber during the compression and combustion strokes.